The 65th edition of the Vuelta a España will break new ground in 2010 with the leader’s jersey changing color from the traditional gold to red and the first stage taking place at night.

The 21-stage race gets underway on August 28 with a 16.5km time trial in the southern city of Seville and will finish in Madrid on September 19.

This year’s event, covering a distance of 3,352km, will travel across many mountainous regions, and will take in the 10.1km climb with a gradient of 8.4 percent to the summit of Cotobello aux Asturies, in the north of the country.

Valverde, Sanchez and their countryman Alberto Contador, winner of this year’s Tour de France and the 2008 Vuelta, were all present at Wednesday’s presentation.

The 2010 Vuelta

“It’s a Vuelta that looks exciting but also very, very hard,” said Valverde, who also expressed his delight that stages six and seven of the race will run through his home region, Murcia.

“It’s a beautiful Vuelta, for the spectator,” said Contador.

Contador, who is tied to Astana for one more season, said he would not make a decision over his participation in the race until May or June but admitted he would be disappointed to miss out for a second successive year.

Former riders such as Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Bernard Thevenet were also present for the course unveiling.

Race director Javier Guillen conceded that the global financial crisis had made it “difficult to find locations” for the stages.